Curriculum
Our Unique First Year Curriculum
The first year curriculum is designed to give law students the conceptual building blocks essential for their professional training. Over the course of two semesters, students will take six doctrinal courses in classic subject areas, as well as one problem-based course, two writing courses and one additional course designed to put the study of law in a broader historical, cultural and political context.
The First Semester
The first semester doctrinal courses are Contracts, Criminal Law and Torts. In Contracts, students study the law of promissory and related obligation, beginning with responsibilities that flow from the making of a promise. Torts introduces the law of civil liability, where private parties bring actions against other private parties for the breach of a particular duty. Criminal law explores the roots of criminal liability, where the state is the plaintiff, and prosecutes suspected criminals for offences against society.
In order to link the concepts learned in the three doctrinal courses, students take an additional Practicum course, held in a weekly small group setting with one doctrinal instructor. The Practicum presents students with the opportunity to think about the role of the lawyer within the profession and within society. Practicum instructors develop practical exercises in fact identification, claim development, client interviews and other role plays. Students and instructors discuss ethical and other practice-related questions to acquire an understanding of their professional responsibilities and service opportunities as lawyers.
Balancing the three doctrinal courses and Practicum are Legal Research, Reasoning and Writing (LRRW), and a contextual course, Comparative and Historical Perspectives on the Law (CHLP). LRRW is a skills based class that develops analytic writing employed in legal memoranda prepared for a law firm, judge, or legal services office. CHLP encourages students to look at the way U.S. common law has developed since the birth of British common law, and to examine a variety of contemporary theoretical perspectives on the relationship between law and society, such as legal realism and critical legal studies.
The Second Semester
The second semester doctrinal courses are Civil Procedure, Property and Introduction to Constitutional Law. In Civil Procedure, students learn the technical rules that govern the movement of a civil case through the court system, from the filing of a claim, to the making of various motions by plaintiffs and defendants, to the consideration of the case by the jury, final disposition and appeal. Property examines the fundamental rules regarding interests in land and personal property. In Introduction to Constitutional Law students will study the structural framework established by the Constitution, including principles of federalism and the role of the Supreme Court.
Advocacy complements the doctrinal courses. Advocacy builds on the LRRW course by developing skills in the kind of persuasive writing employed in the writing of a legal brief. The course culminates in the writing of an appellate brief and participation in a mock oral argument.
First year students also may take an optional elective during the spring semester.
